We have loved Michael Stahl-David since love guided him under Manhattan and to the top of a tower in 2008’s “Cloverfield.” He put the pathos on hold for “Behind the Star,” a webseries that presented a cracked version of Michael — one who’d let the “Cloverfield” fame go to his head. Now, he combines both masks to play former overachiever Steven in “My Generation,” ABC’s faux-documentary series.

Last week we met him hanging ten, pulling digits and generally loving life as a surfing, shot slinging, slacker. But an unexpected call — “you have a son” — brought Steven back home, back to reality and back to the people he’d abandoned after high school.

Tonight Steven continues his journey into fatherhood, which is exactly what drew Michael to the role in the first place.

PopWrap: Last week your character found out he was a father — and we found out he’s got major daddy issues. Is that what attracted you to Steven?

Michael Stahl-David: I connected to the fatherhood thing deeply. The idea of “I want to live up to my potential and there’s something blocking me.” I enjoy watching somebody bumping up against that.

PW: So how does that come into play tonight?

Michael: I have my first meeting with Tom and we start to explore why I was such an over-achiever in high school. What was it about my family that had me performing that way. You also meet my dad, who is just f***ed up.

PW: This week’s episode uses home movies — is that going to be a recurring theme?

Michael: Actually every episode has a different framing device. At the top of one episode we jump forward a week and the interviews talk about events that haven’t happened – then we work our way back to see what it was. Another does a split-screen of two characters in high school and what their morning routine was. You watch both of them go through their day to see the differences – like Carolyn’s up studying and Jackie’s still asleep.

PW: What else can you tease?

Michael: Oh, in one we’ll see audition tapes from Jackie’s career and a real movie that Jaime King was in – this horror movie – and it’s repurposed as the one movie that Jackie Fox made. It’s so cool.

PW: This show is all about reflecting on the choices you made — ten years ago, is this where you envisioned yourself?

Michael: I’m 27 and at 17 I didn’t plan to be an actor. I actually planned to be a teacher. And it’s still something I’m really interested in – I’m actually teaching at the performing arts high school we shot in the pilot. So that was what I was thinking about – working with the youts [laughs]. We’ll see. I feel really good about what we have here. Hopefully I won’t have to be making any decisions about what else to do with my life.

PW: How does 17-year-old Steven compared to 17-year-old Michael?

Michaels: He’s so different from who I was at 17. I’m pretty ambitious now – always thinking about how to use my time most productively, but I don’t think I was at 17. Steven now has the Dogma – the black and whiteness – that I had back in high school. I was an economist in high school. I had this analysis of the world where everything fell into that interpretation. Grey areas weren’t things I knew a lot about.

PW: Moving forward, what can fans expect to see on “My Generation?”

Michael: There’s a big reveal tonight about something in my past – we go to the jail where my father is and going forward, this relationship with Tom and Carolyn becomes quite meaningful. It’s precarious. I develop an attachment to him. And so the question now becomes, how does it change my relationship with his mom? How do I relate as an adult to the girl who nursed this crush while I barely noticed? Meanwhile, I think both Jackie and Stephen have self destructive impulses. And there’s a spark there they can’t quite deny. They try to hide if from the film crew .. as best they can.